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The Essential Family Survival Library
Top Customer Recommended Books

Outdoor Survival

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SAS Survival Handbook - The most important characteristic of a really useful book on this subject is not just the kind and quantity of information available, but the real usefulness and authenticity of the information. Wiseman's book has that, and it's greatest asset beyond that sine qua non is the generally excellent quality of illustration. - Amazon Customer
 

US Army Survival Manual: FM 21-76
Tom Brown's Field Guide to Wilderness Survival
Shelters, Shacks & Shanties: And How to Build Them
Mountainman Crafts & Skills
 Wilderness Medicine, Beyond First Aid, 5th Edition
Tom Brown's Guide to Wild Edible and Medicinal Plants
Nols Wilderness First Aid
The Science and Art of Tracking
Tom Brown's Field Guide to Living With the Earth

Growing for Independence

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Five Acres and Independence - While the precise numbers for costs and quantity of production are dated, the basic principles for successful small farming are clearly elucidated... I have many reference books, and this is one of the best...with a tattered cover and yellowed pages! - Amazon Customer
The New Organic Grower: A Master's Manual of Tools and Techniques for the Home and Market Gardener
Rodale's All-New Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening : The Indispensable Resource for Every Gardener
The Organic Gardener's Handbook of Natural Insect and Disease Control: A Complete Problem-Solving Guide to Keeping Your Garden & Yard Healthy Without Chemicals
Square Foot Gardening
The Art of the Kitchen Garden
The Edible Container Garden: Growing Fresh Food in Small Spaces
Four-Season Harvest: Organic Vegetables from Your Home Garden All Year Long

The Basics

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Storey's Basic Country Skills: A Practical Guide to Self-Reliance - This is a GREAT resource book. It contains a little bit of info on just about anything you could want to know about. It is amazing how much it covers--and how well. It is full of very good advice, techniques, and practical skills and solutions for not only country dwellers, but for anyone interested in being able to rely on themselves--inside the home (covers anything from electrical help to help in the kitchen with recipes and canning/freezing) to the great outdoors (covers decks, gardening & tree houses to caring for livestock). - Amazon Customer
The NEW Passport To Survival. 12 Steps to Self-Sufficient Living
Back to Basics: How to Learn and Enjoy Traditional American Skills
Handy Farm Devices: And How to Make Them
The Rodale Book of Composting : Easy Methods for Every Gardener

Greenhouse and Hydroponics

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 Building Your Own Greenhouse (Greenhouse Basics) - Fun and informative reading. Many ideas to increase you excitement while growing your own food and herbs all year and selling the extra, for a good profitable hobby. - Amazon Customer
Gardening in Your Greenhouse (Greenhouse Basics , No 2)
Secrets to a Successful Greenhouse and Business : A Complete Guide to Starting and Operating A High-Profit Organic or Hydroponic Business That Benefits the Environment
Hydroponic Food Production: A Definitive Guidebook of Soil Less Food-Growing Methods

Recipes for the Independent Home

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The Encyclopedia of Country Living: An Old Fashioned Recipe Book - From the basics of raising chickens, pigs, and other livestock; to making a quilting frame; to pruning a tree; to recipes for homemade food with flair, The Encyclopedia Of Country Living is a handy, comprehensive, useful and "user friendly" 896-page reference.
- Amazon Customer
Kill It & Grill It: A Guide to Preparing and Cooking Wild Game and Fish
The Magic of Fire: Hearth Cooking: One Hundred Recipes for the Fireplace or Campfire
Hearthside Cooking: Virginia Plantation Cuisine
Log Cabin Cooking: Pioneer Recipes & Food Lore

Canning, Preserving and Storing Food

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 The Big Book of Preserving the Harvest - I've been canning for several years, but this is the only book I use now. This book has something in it for everyone. Easy to use, clear and concise directions. Highly recommend it for beginners!  - Amazon Customer
Complete Guide to Home Canning and Preserving (Second Revised Edition)
The Canning, Freezing, Curing and Smoking of Meat, Fish and Game
The Joy of Pickling: 200 Flavor-Packed Recipes for All Kinds of Produce from Garden or Market
Blue Ribbon Preserves: Secrets to Award-Winning Jams, Jellies, Marmalades and More
Complete Dehydrator Cookbook

Meats, Dairy and Butchering

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 Basic Butchering of Livestock & Game - This is the most concise book I have ever seen on the subject of slaughtering livestock.  - Amazon Customer
Home Cheese Making: Recipes for 75 Homemade Cheeses
Small-Scale Livestock Farming: A Grass-Based Approach for Health, Sustainability, and Profit
Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens
Barnyard in Your Backyard: A Beginner's Guide to Raising Chickens, Ducks, Geese, Rabbits, Goats, Sheep, and Cattle
Storey's Guide to Raising Dairy Goats: Breeds, Care, Dairying
Storey's Guide to Raising Pigs
Storey's Guide to Raising Beef Cattle

Home Construction Plus

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Independent Builder: Designing & Building a House Your Own Way (Real Goods Independent Living Books)  - Sam Clark uses up half the book before he gets into the nitty-gritty of construction methods. This really IS a book about house DESIGN as well as construction. As such, it's an EXCELLENT book for someone who's starting from scratch to create their own house. - Amazon Customer
Building Construction Illustrated, 3rd Edition
New Fix-It-Yourself Manual
New Complete Do-It-Yourself Manual
The Family Handyman Helpful Hints: Quick and Easy Solutions Timesaving Tips Tricks of the Trade

Other Skills

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 Morrow Guide to Knot - Long ago I decided to be better at knots than anyone else I knew. It paid big dividends. This was my first choice for a knot book. - Amazon Customer
Deerskins into Buckskins: How to Tan With Natural Materials: A Field Guide for Hunters and Gatherers
The Backpacker's Field Manual : A Comprehensive Guide to Mastering Backcountry Skills

Survival Philosophy

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 Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why - Laurence Gonzales has written a riveting book, not about survival technique, but survival philosophy. The points he makes can be applied to any situation in which you find yourself endangered physically, mentally, or emotionally.
 The Survivor Personality: Why Some People Are Stronger, Smarter, and More Skillful at Handling Life's Difficulties...and How You Can Be, Too

Disaster Preparation

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The Complete Disaster Home Preparation Guide - how to prepare at home for emergencies that disrupt essential services such as water and electricity, and discusses survival preparedness for disasters ranging from earthquakes and floods to nuclear emergencies. - Amazon
When Technology Fails: A Manual for Self-Reliance and Planetary Survival

Crisis Preparedness Handbook: A Complete Guide to Home Storage and Physical Survival
Making the Best of Basics: Family Preparedness Handbook
The Complete Book of Survival: How to Protect Yourself Against Revolution, Riots, Hurricanes, Famines and Other Natural and Man-Made Disasters

First Aid

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 The American Red Cross First Aid and Safety Handbook - Every household needs a copy of this book and at least one person familiar with its contents. - Amazon Customer
Handbook of First Aid and Emergency Care
Where There Is No Doctor
Where There Is No Dentist

Communications

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 Guide to Emergency Survival Communications - When an earthquake, tornado, terrorist bomb or simple power outage leaves you without electricity, water or a phone, things can get very difficult very quickly. This book is an exceptionally thorough guide to building and maintaining your own emergency communications system. The book covers a range of subjects: communication equipment such as shortwave, citizen's band and satellite radio; alternate power sources from solar and wind power to battery generators; how to scan for emergency, police and government broadcasts; how to get weather information and, most importantly, where to get all this stuff, how to put it together and maintain it. - Amazon Customer
Passport to World Band Radio: 2004

Energy Independent Home

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 Achieving Energy Independence - One Step at a Time - Jeffrey Yago certainly has the credentials to write an authoritative book on energy independence; he's a professional engineer, a specialist in alternate energy applications, and - most importantly - he's done it himself; he lives in a large home that embodies his philosophy. The book reflects this wealth of knowledge and experience. - Amazon Customer
 Wind Energy Basics: A Guide to Small and Micro Wind Systems (Real Goods Solar Living Book)
 The Solar Electric House: Energy for the Environmentally-Responsive, Energy-Independent Home

Water Independance

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 Cottage Water Systems: An Out-Of-The City Guide to Pumps, Plumbing, Water Purification, and Privies - I am a Health Inspector in New Brunswick and many houses in rural areas require well and septic disposal fields. I found this book well written and informative. A must-read for new home owners who are dealing with wells and on-site sewage disposal fields for the first time. - Amazon Customer
 
The Home Water Supply: How to Find, Filter, Store and Conserve It

Personal Hygiene

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 The Soapmaker: Natural Handmade Soap from Your Kitchen - This book contains alot of good information on making soaps that keep you from not having to deal with lye or other caustic chemicals. - Amazon Customer
 The Soapmaker's Companion: A Comprehensive Guide With Recipes, Techniques & Know-How
 The Natural Soap Book: Making Herbal and Vegetable-Based Soaps
 Making Natural Liquid Soaps: Herbal Shower Gels / Conditioning Shampoos / Moisturizing Hand Soaps

Weather Forecasting

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 Basic Essentials Weather Forecasting, 2nd - I am studying to be a weather observer and this book has been a good reference book, I take it to work with me as I watch the weather on my driving job. Thank You for the opportunity to review this book. - Amazon Customer
Instant Weather Forecasting

Hunting and Fishing

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Gun Digest 2004: The World's Greatest Gun Book (Gun Digest, 2004) - The gun digest has been the premier firearms publication since 1944. No other annual has covered the field consistently for this amount of time. There are many interesting articles from many contributing authors over its 60+ year span that are timeless in their relevance.
Art Of The Rifle
Gun Dog: Revolutionary Rapid Training Method
How to Bag the Biggest Buck of Your Life
The Ultimate Guide to Calling and Decoying Waterfowl: Tips and Tactics for Hunting Ducks and Geese
Complete Book of Baits Rigs & Tackle
The Complete Book of Tackle Making
The Fly-Tying Bible: 100 Deadly Trout and Salmon Flies in Step-by-Step Photographs
Rod Building Guide: Fly, Spinning, Casting, Trolling
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Fly Fishing
From Hook to Table

Self Defense

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Attack Proof: The Ultimate Guide to Personal Protection - The beginning of the book is mainly about using Close Quarters Combat for basic self defense. The authors have super charged my understanding of these basic life saving methods with their detailed and scientific explanations of how the simplest chops and palm heel strikes, among others, can work effectively. - Amazon Customer
Kill Or Get Killed
Get Tough
Cheap Shots, Ambushes, And Other Lessons : A Down And Dirty Book On Streetfighting & Survival

 Warfare

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 On Guerrilla Warfare - It remains a timeless masterpiece. No person fighting either a guerrilla war or fighting in counter-guerrilla warfare operations should do so without having read and digested the contents of this book. This is what is meant by knowledge is power.
 The Art of War
Special Forces Operational Techniques (FM 31-20)
Special Forces Guerrilla Warfare Manual